Krzanich, 52, will take the reigns of the company at a time when it is struggling to figure out its mobile strategy and looking to push into new markets.

Last month when the chip maker reported weak earnings, Stacy Smith, the company's chief financial officer, said that the company's chips lead in power efficiency, which gives it an advantage in the mobile industry.

"We're driving this transition in the marketplace where we're moving the company to benefit from these lower-power devices," he said.

Smith added that the company also profits on the server side of the business by building the infrastructure that serves mobile devices.

In a separate announcement on Thursday, Intel Capital said that it was leading an investment round of $9 million in the cloud-based mobile applications firm called FeedHenry. The company provides a platform for the enterprise market to develop and deploy apps.

Intel shares fell slightly in early trade after the company announced the leadership change.